D.J. Williams is very rapidly making it difficult for the Denver Broncos to keep his incumbent linebacker title unchallenged…and it has nothing to do with his play.
Last week, Williams added to his troubles by violating the number one rule of social media (thou shall not post images that will cause professional repercussions on thy accounts) by posting several images of defensive plays from the Broncos’ new iPad-based playbooks. He was immediately contacted by a team official demanding he remove the content. This lapse in judgment is compounded by a DWI trial set for August 15 and a six-game suspension handed down from the league for violating its substance abuse policy, which Williams is appealing in federal court.
Regardless of verdict in either of those cases, Williams’ lock on the starting weakside linebacker spot is sure to begin to come into question due to his behavior off the field. The Broncos are one of many NFL teams who have spoken of the importance of their players being people of high character and this latest misstep forces the team to ask the difficult question of what a player’s on-the-field value is when weighed against his poor decisions.
Williams’ leadership on the field was regarded highly enough at one point in his career to allow him to become a team captain, only to have it removed due to his extracurriculars. Let’s hope for his sake and the Broncos’ sake he can reverse course quickly enough for him to reclaim that type of poise before the Broncos are left with no other choice but to revoke more than just a “C” on his uniform.
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